I was brought up on a staple diet of ' Indians are great human beings from a centuries old civilisation; while the westerners are upstarts with totally materialistic dispositions'. Well, I have seen light in the last about 20 years.
Generalisations are always wrong but here I am using them to make a point.
Indians seem to be about the most cruel, selfish and inhuman people you can ever come across. We rape young girls, slit the stomachs of young mothers, burn people by putting tyres around them and vandalise the helpless in ways a westerner can not even dream of. Our people in power - government, police, other officials etc - are actually the cause of all our miseries.There is absolutely no hope.
As for being materialistic, you just can't beat an Indian. And the bigger the tika on the forehead, the more materialistic the guy is.
On the other hand, westerners are pretty decent people.
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There is a flip side to this. I'd say that Indians are the most self-critical people you can come across. I have a cousin who has been a Lawyer in USA for the last 30 years and another who is a businessman in the UK for the last 12 years. I often have marathon sessions with them when they come to India and on the topic of the primitive Indian Society, rude behaviour, corruption and crime rate, they are not at all surprised. They assure me that it is the same case in USA and UK. This leads me to believe that whereas we are aware of all the happenings in India (reported with masala and Tadka) reported actively by out media, we are mostly ignorant of the local happenings in other countries. Was it nor corruption and deceit that caused the crash and drove us into a recession in 2008? Are racial attacks against Indians in Australia a new phenomenon? No they have only been brought to our notice recently.I've been to Moscow, Kolomna, UralwagonZavut and Tula in Russia, Munich and Manchen in Germany, Paris, Vienna, Slovakia and Czech Republic. I have found no "Atithi Devo Bhava" there - in fact there is a distinct hostility towards foreigners and one gets fleeced if one purchases anything from the market. In fact, at Munich during the October Fest, we wanted to taste a Pitcher of their famous beer but were told by the pretty waitress that we have to be sitting on a table to order a beer. We requested the people sitting on the nearby table if we could order a beer on their table and they took 10 Euros from us for a beer that the waitress told us cost 8 Euros. More.. the next day when we came to the same place with a local couple, we were served the beer standing in the gallery and for just 5 Euros. That would be a good story for an Indian to tell about life in India.
ReplyDeleteAll told, I deduce that Indians are the best at criticising and belittling themselves. That is why one sees the superior attitude and behaviour of foreigners in our country. They still consider us a colonial nation because of our servile attitude.
I have and always will believe that Indians are great human biengs from a great and ancient civilisation and rich heritage.
Vicky Mehta
Thanks, Vicky.
ReplyDeleteYou have pointed out that people in Western countries are equally corrupt. While they too are corrupt, the degree is much lesser. Transparency International's list of 2006 ( Least corrupt countries ) shows Australia at serial 9, UK at 11, USA at 17 and India at 88! Facts are facts.
And yes, they love their money. No doubt about it.
What I must point out that as far as personalised inhuman, indecent and cruel behaviour is concerned, you really can't beat an Indian.Nothing is repugnant to an Indian.
And why do the Westerners behave better in obeying the law? Are they better human beings? Far from it. I agree with you that as far as heritage is concerned, we come from nobler forefathers. However, they have established better systems to ensure that people behave better. If less laws are broken there, it is because of the certainty that if the law is broken, you are pretty likely to end up collecting more pain points than the pleasures you hope to gain. An Indian breaks the traffic law in India, but dare not do so while visiting Singapore. Americans do not break rules in the US, but they do so in India.
Within India itself, the UP bhaiya behaves crudely in UP, but not so in Mumbai.
It is not so much about the stock as it is about the systems and rule of law or sanction of society.